ESTEVAN - For the first time since 2017, a River Jamm concert was held at the Hidden Valley Golf and RV Resort, and it proved to be a big hit with the public.
More than 1,240 tickets were sold for River Jamm 24 on Friday night at Hidden Valley's driving range. Many volunteers also attended the show. The Knights of Columbus in Estevan brought the fundraiser to the tourist attraction.
Hidden Valley owner Brad Dutton said the last River Jamm was held in 2017 as part of the Dutton family's 20th anniversary of owning the campground and golf course, so there was some experience with having a big event on their property. This one was "bigger, better and with a lot more help", he said. The weather co-operated and the Knights of Columbus did a lot of the work.
"That's some of the best volunteerism that I've seen, and it just speaks of community," said Dutton.
Cover band Snake Oil was the featured entertainment, while SJS was the opening act. Dutton said they provided great entertainment, and people in the campground a couple hundred yards away could hear the music.
"They're as much entertainers as they are a cover band," said Dutton.
The event exceeded Dutton's expectations.
"Because I had not done something on a scale like this before, I didn't really know what to expect. I felt confident that we would have 600-700 people buying tickets, but over 1,200, I think, is a home run. It's a long drive," said Dutton.
The crowd was well behaved and there weren't any fights reported. Thanks to the size of the driving range area, it didn't appear that the spectator area was as crowded as the volume of ticket sales indicated.
Setup for the concert began a few days before the concert and the Knights of Columbus took care of the cleanup on July 6.
"It took four days to set up and four hours to tear it down," said Dutton.
Thanks to the support for River Jamm, Dutton said the return of the event is "on the radar" for next year. A lot of people have been telling him they want to see a River Jamm 25. If he has the same help, venue and time, Dutton believes it could happen, and he would gladly work with the Knights of Columbus again.
"An event like this takes such a large amount of volunteers and philanthropy to knock it out. You have to have a charitable group to make it a real success," said Dutton.
Grand knight Kim Skjonsby believes it was the most successful fundraiser in the history of the local Knights of Columbus.
"It turned out to be a fantastic event. We had excellent, excellent sponsorship. I can't speak enough about it. It was just fantastic. The community, the number of businesses that stepped up – knights and non-knights that helped out – there was very good volunteer participation."
Everything went smoothly the night of the River Jamm, Skjonsby said. He praised Dutton for all of the work put into making the event possible, and thanked everyone else who volunteered, donated and sponsored the concert.
The local Knights of Columbus chapter has long had a charity appeal, and that will continue this year, but in recent years, the service group has been shifting its fundraising focus to other events. They support youth sports, music, education, Bible camps and more. They also back St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church and the Community Hamper Association.
"We prefer that our money stays local in our community. There are lots people that need the help here, lots of groups, lots of youth," said Skjonsby.
Skjonsby had not seen Snake Oil before, and he thought it was an "awesome" show.
